Benchmarks near day's low; Nifty slips below 18,050

The domestic equity indices slipped into the negative terrain and traded near the day's low in mid-morning trade. The Nifty slid below the 18,050 mark. Auto shares snapped its two days declining streak. Trading was volatile due to expiry of weekly index options on the NSE.

At 11:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 130.59 points or 0.22% to 60,526.86. The Nifty 50 index lost 20.25 points or 0.11% to 18,022.70.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.10% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.16%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,727 shares rose and 1,546 shares fell. A total of 143 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Auto index advanced 0.85% to 12,618.55. The index has slipped 1.23% in past two trading sessions.

Balkrishna Industries (up 4.86%), MRF (up 4.04%), Bajaj Auto (up 1.77%), Bharat Forge (up 1.61%), Hero MotoCorp (up 1.56%), Eicher Motors (up 1.27%), Tube Investments of India (up 0.97%), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 0.89%), Ashok Leyland (up 0.72%) and Bosch (up 0.64%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Marico gained 3.35% after the FMCG major said that its India business marked a slight improvement over the preceding quarter to post a mid-single-digit volume growth in Q3 FY23. Consolidated revenue in the quarter grew in low single digits on a year-on-year basis.

IRB Infrastructure Developers slipped 3.05%. The company's board has approved the proposal for sub-division of existing equity share of the company from 1 equity share having face value of Rs 10 each, fully paid-up into 10 equity shares having face value of Re 1 each fully paid-up, subject to the approval of shareholders of the company. The record date for the will be intimated in due course, said the company.

Bajaj Finance slumped 6.54%. The NBFC said that new loans booked by the company during Q3 FY23 stood at 7.8 million, up by 5.4% as compared with the same period last year. The company had booked 7.4 million loans in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.

Global markets:

Asian stocks advanced across the board as investors shrug off the U.S. Federal Reserve's commitment to higher interest rates in tackling inflation.

The Caixin China general services purchasing manager's index showed easing of pressure on the sector for the month of December, with a reading of 48, maintaining in contraction territory. The print rose from seeing a six-month low in the previous month with a reading of 46.7.

US stocks snapped a two-day losing streak as Fed minutes released Wednesday from the December meeting showed higher interest rates are to remain as long as inflation stays high.

The Federal Reserve released the minutes from its Dec. 13-14 meeting, which showed central bank officials expect rates to be higher for some time. In view of the persistent and unacceptably high level of inflation, several participants commented that historical experience cautioned against prematurely loosening monetary policy.

US manufacturing contracted further in December. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said on Wednesday that its manufacturing PMI dropped to 48.4 last month from 49.0 in November, contracting for a second straight month.

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